Memory Lane
by IFsci-fi
Summary: A patient causes house to take a trip down memory lane.HouseCuddy please R&R! Chapter 7 up!
1. Ahhhh!

Disclaimer: I do not own House or any of the characters, Fox does. If I did, I wouldn't be wasting my genius on fan-fictions, I would be writing scripts. No, I'm just an obsessed fan like you.

Summary: A patient gets an illness that causes House to look back on his past. (House/Cuddy)

AN: this takes place before Cameron leaves sob and before Vogler (I hate his soooo much) Enjoy!

_Prologue_

_A tall young man, only about in his early 20's, stepped out of the library. He sighed in contentment and relief. Man, it was good to be done with school for the day. He glanced at his watch and smiled. It was early, only about 4:00 and now he _finally_ had time to relax. He tosses his keys from hand to hand as he walked out to his car. _

_"Hey stranger," a voice sounded from behind him. He grinned widely, _music to my ears, _he thought as he turned to see a pretty blonde with a big smile. Her name was Gillian Piper Quinn; she was a marine biologist and the love of Gregory House's life. _

_"How have you been Gilly-bean?" he wrapped an arm around her shoulder and kissed her gently on the lips. _

_"Not too bad," she replied, resting her head on his shoulder. "So, how'd your exams go?"_

_"Fairly well, actually," Gregory frowned, suddenly worried. "I hope I did O.K. I can't afford getting a bad exam score now, the year's almost over. _

_"Oh, shut-up," Gillian laughed, ruffling his curly brown hair. "You always do well, you're the best in the class, you're a genius and you're gonna be the best therapist in the world."_

_"Did I ever tell you how much I love you?"_

_"Yes, but I never get tired of hearing it." Gillian chuckled._

_X x X_

Gregory House woke in a fairly good mood, which is saying something considering it was 10:00 in the morning and he felt as thought a 60-ton truck just ran over his head. He swallowed against the faint taste of alcohol and slowly opened his eyes. He froze, _where the hell am I? _He sat up, looked around, and found himself face-to-face with Lisa Cuddy.

He let out a horrified scream and tumbled out of bed. Cuddy's eyes widened in shock then looked under the covers at herself and screamed loudly. House frowned, looked down at himself, and then screamed again.

"Oh my God! Where are my pants?" House scanned the small apartment.

"That is a _wonderful _question. Now I have one for you: What the hell are you doing here?" Cuddy hollered back. After a moment of trying to discern what had happened, they both came to the mortifying conclusion.

Cuddy looked shocked a slightly disgusted, "Did we – you – me – I – uh…"

House looked mildly surprised, "My God, that was some night."


	2. Thrills and Chills

CHAPTER 1

…_a week earlier…_

"Hey Wilson," Gregory House limped to James Wilson, an oncologist and one of House's few friends. Wilson sighed a half-satisfied smile, "Ah, the wonderful sound of someone going to clinic duty."

House made a pained look, "Wow, I come to have a civilized conversation and instead I get cut down. I expected better from you, trying to take my job like that."

"So it's your job to cut people down?" Wilson raised and eyebrow.

"It's what I do best." House turned away and began to limp towards the elevator.

"Well, let me make your day," Wilson followed him to the elevator. "You have a patient waiting for you."

"Oh, thrills and chills," House rolled his eyes as the elevator door closed on Wilson's face.

X x X

"Our patients name is Janice Rand, a 25 year old scientist who is currently experiencing dizziness, nausea, and chest pain." Dr. Robert Chase, a young Australian shuffled through the diagnostic papers. "And a rash on her arms and legs, tests came back inconclusive on that."

"Is she on any medication at all?" House pulled the papers out of Chase's hand and glanced at them. "Any allergy medicine, anything like that?"

"Nothing recently," a pretty brunette, Dr. Allison Cameron frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, I thought we could give ourselves a break and just assume she ate something that she's allergic to," House shrugged. "But I guess that would be too easy, wouldn't it?"

"You think its something she ate?" scowled a skeptical African American doctor named Eric Foreman but House mostly knew him as Pain in the Ass.

House shook his head, "That would be too easy, huh? If stuff happened like that we'd be out of a job." He paused a moment, "Actually, things should happen like that more."

"Well, not today," Cameron flipped through the diagnostic papers. "There aren't any listed food allergies in here."

"At any rate, I don't think food allergies would cause anyone to frequently lose consciousness for long periods of time," Foreman added smugly.

"So she's fainting?" House sighed in exasperation. "See, that would have been great to know in advance." He turned to the whiteboard that was always leaning against its stand. "Okay, what have we got?"

"Dizziness," Cameron responded, glancing at the papers in front of her."

"Chest pain and rash," Chase followed, pausing to let House scrawl the board.

"Nausea and fainting," Foreman finished.

There was a moment of silence broken only by the squeaking of the marker on the whiteboard as House finished writing. When he was done, he stepped back and sighed, "Any theories?"

There was a pause, then Chase spoke up, "Well, due to the rash, it may be an infection, like staph."

"Any objections?" House paused, waiting for any objections from the other two, but none came. "Okay then, put her on antibiotics for staph infection and see what happens."

As everyone got up to leave, House spoke up, "Hey, why am I stuck with this girl? There are a lot of doctors, why me?"

Everyone looked surprised at the question, "Well, she's a brilliant scientist who's on the verge of many breakthroughs that will affect the scientific and medical world as we know it," Forman answered, wary as to where this might lead.

"So why do I get her? Because I'm loving and caring? Because Cuddy thinks I'm hot?" House was getting at something, but nobody knew what.

"Well, she needs the best treatment that this hospital has to offer," Foreman sighed reluctantly. "So I guess you would qualify as the best. I suppose."

"Aw, thanks Foreman," House adopted a smug smile. "I love hearing you say that."

Foreman rolled his eyes and murmured under his breath as he followed Cameron and Chase to the examination room where the patient, Janice Rand, was waiting.


	3. Gillybean and Jellybean

**AN: Stupid computer _-hits computer-_ I mean, no good computer, good computer….please don't die!**

CHAPTER 2

House, in a pretty good mood, limped into Examination Room #2 where an anxious mother and an irritated teenage girl seated in a wheelchair waited for him.

"Oh good, you're here," the mother gasped frantically. "My daughter, Lily, was in an accident recently which put her in her…condition." This merited a disgusted look from Lily. "And now she can't speak! She can't talk at all! You have to help her!"

House glanced from the frantic mother to the chair-ridded Lily who flashed her mother a scathing look that said something all too familiar: _screw you_.

House raised his eye brows skeptically, "Can't or won't?"

The mother frowned, "What are you saying? She can't talk, something's damaged her throat."

House shrugged indifferently, "I dunno, if I had a mom like you I wouldn't be talking either." Lily smiled in agreement and her mother flushed angrily, not seeing her daughter's smirk.

"If it is a medical problem, however, I'll look it over. But it's probably her hormones, and if it is, you're in the wrong department."

Not leaving any room for argument, House left the room, parting a worried, but now doubtful mother staring dubiously at her sulking daughter.

X x X

In another room, another anxious mother sat by her daughter's bed.

"As of right now, we're not particularly sure what it is," Chase hooked a bag of fluids to a tube leading to an IV in the unconscious Rand's wrist. "But we're going to try to put her on some antibiotics and see what happens."

The older Rand nodded mutely, her face showing concern and confusion. Finally she asked softly, "When will you know?"

Chase smiled reassuringly, "In a couple of hours we should know if the treatment is working."

Mrs. Rand nodded her understanding but it didn't ease the worried look on her face.

"Hold still, I won't be able to see if your head keeps moving like that," House snapped, his good mood long gone – along with his patience. He was given the difficult task of trying to inspect the swollen ear of a five year old boy with the attention span of an earthworm. Not only that, but the kid would not shut-up.

"What's that?" the boy turned to face the instrument House was trying to put in his ear.

"Something that will tell me what's wrong with you, with the exception of a short attention span and the inability to stop talking," House muttered, squinting into the boy's ear.

"Oh." The boy sad, kicking his legs against the leg of the table he was seated on. "Why do you guys put paper on the tables?" He squirmed again, causing House to drop the instrument. Cursing silently, he picked it up and jammed it in the boy's ear.

"It's because there people are paranoid," House replied absently.

"Hey, aren't you supposed to wash that before sticking that in my son's ear?" demanded the father, who had been silent until now.

"Not if I don't want to," House murmured.

"What does 'paranoid' mean?" the boy asked, finally holding still.

"Stupid," House replied shortly, putting the instrument away. He turned to the father, "Your son has a standard-issue ear infection. Go to the drug administration counter and there's some stuff to clear that up." The pain in his leg combined with his head to create one big throb. He pulled out his pills and popped one into his mouth.

"What're those?" the little boy jumped down from the table.

"They're my special candy. Mine. They're like…special jelly beans," House stopped realizing what he had said.

"I don't like jelly beans," The boy responded.

House's voice softened ever so slightly, "Nah, me neither."

The little boy detected the glimmer of sadness behind the irritable shield, "Do jelly beans make you sad?"

The sadness vanished and the annoyance returned. "No, but your questions make me mad." In his pocket, House's pager sounded. He checked it, then started for the door. "Now if you'll excuse me, my patient's having a seizure."


	4. I'm Hungry

CHAPTER 3

Janice Rand was going into violent convulsions when Cameron, Foreman, and Chase rushed in. Mrs. Rand was frantic, "What's happening?" she posed but nobody bothered to answered.

Suddenly, Janice leaned over the side of her bed and vomited with such force, the doctors had to hold her to prevent her from falling over the side of the bed. She was gasping for air.

"Get her on respirators." Foreman ordered. When she was hooked up Cameron injected her with tranquilizers and Janice once again lapsed into sleep.

A moment later House limped into the room and glanced around.

"Did I miss it?" House asked in mock innocence. "Darn, I wanted to watch the show."

"Excuse me, who is this?" Mrs. Rand demanded, worry giving way to irritancy of the nonchalance attitude of this man.

"I'm the doctor, nice to meet you." House commented dryly.

"Why aren't you in uniform? Why haven't we seen you until now?" Mrs. Rand wasn't really sure why she cared, but she did.

"God, you're like that kid I just examined. First of all, the reason you haven't seen me is because I have much better things to do than sit by your daughter's bedside and hold her hand. You seem to have that covered. And my uniform, if that's what you want to call it, is ugly and it itches." House paused for a moment. "That answer all your questions? Good. 'cause I have one for you: what's this rash on your daughter's arms?"

Mrs. Rand let out a shaky laugh, "Oh, she had chicken pox a little later than most people at about 14. She scratched so much that it left huge scares around her arms. Put that with the exema she's always had and you've got some nasty rash." She gasped, "Why?"

"Curiosity," House replied enigmatically. "'Kay, bye." He limped out of the room but not before turning to his associates. "After lunch, meet me in the briefing room."

Foreman frowned, "It's not lunchtime yet."

"It is on my watch." House saw the disapproving looks and adopted a look of innocence, "What? I'm hungry."

An hour later, they met in the briefing room. House crossed the word rash off the list. "Okay, now we know it is not any type of skin disease. But, we have got an addition to the list, Cameron, did you notice anything funny about the heartbeat?"

Cameron paused, pulling that piece of information out of her brain, "It was unusually fast."

After a moment, Cameron spoke again, "It seems to be focused around the heart. I think it is Long QT Syndrome."

For a second, it seemed to House that his heart stopped beating. "Long QT Syndrome?" His voice was very different from what his colleagues were used to, soft and distant. They noticed it immediately, but did nothing except exchange befuddled glances. House seemed to regain his composure, "Okay, that's a possibility." He wrote it in a different section on the whiteboard. He turned, "Next?"

Foreman was next to speak, "QT wouldn't cause the rapid heartbeat; I'm gonna go with Atrial Flutter."

House nodded, liking that solution better, writing it up on the board. "Chase?"

Chase stared at the board, thinking, "Atrial Flutter," He stated simply. "It fits with all the symptoms better."

"Alright, I'm for Atrial Flutter." House connected the cap to the pen with a type of finality. "Prepare her for treatment."

With that, he limped to his office, leaving his assistants looking after him with bemused glances.

In the lab room, Chase, Cameron, and Foreman were busy preparing the treatment for Janice Rand. But that was not where their thoughts were.

"What was that back there?" Foreman wondered aloud.

"What, House?" Chase glanced up and Foreman nodded. "I dunno. That was weird though."

"Yeah…" Both men glanced at Cameron, who paused before answering.

"I think something happened to him," she replied, shaking her head. "I don't know what though."

Chase shook his head quizzically, "Who knows?"


	5. Are You?

CHAPTER 4

_Gillian waited anxiously outside her dorm for Gregory House. She'd called him earlier asking him to meet her there saying she had something important to tell him. she coughed slightly, trying to ease the pain in her chest that came in bouts. They normally only lasted a few minutes or so. She smiled; "something important" almost seemed like an understatement, but melodrama was probably not needed. Gillian didn't know how Gregory would react to her news, they weren't even married yet – but that would change in 6 months. Finally she saw Gregory's car pull up by the sidewalk. She wanted to run over to him and throw her arms around him and tell him everything but … a mischievous grin spread across her face…maybe I won't, she decided. Gregory stepped out of his car and, when he reached her, wrapped his arms around her._

"_So what'd you want to tell me?" Gregory asked curiously. "You sounded pretty excited on the phone."_

_Gillian grinned mysteriously, "Wanna take a walk?" She slipped her hand into his and together they walked down the sidewalk towards a nearby park. For a while, they talked in silence until Gregory couldn't stand it anymore. _

"_So what did you want to tell me?" He asked again. "You said it was urgent but now that I am here you don't want to tell me?"_

_Gillian smiled a secretive smile, "What do you think about the name Adrian?"_

_Gregory frowned, "Adrian?"_

"_Yeah, Adrian Nicholas House. I kinda like that name for a boy."_

_Gregory stared quizzically for a moment before a look of sudden realization came over his face, "Wait, does that mean…are you…?"_

XxX

Janice was awake, she felt dizzy and strangely exhausted. She glanced around, not knowing exactly where she was. Her head whirled, her mind worked frantically, trying to remember what had happened.

She turned her head to see her mother asleep in a chair next to her.

"Mom?" she called to her, rousing the older woman from her slumber.

"Thank God you're alright, how are you feeling?" She asked her daughter.

"Where am I?" Janoce looked around, confused.

"You're in the hospital, don't you…"

"The hospital? Why, what's wrong?"

Janice looked frantic. Her mother was about to say something, but was interrupted by Foreman entering the room.

"Hello, Janice," he shut the door. "I'm Dr. Foreman. I am one of the doctors who are going to be working with you."

"What's wrong with me?" Janice repeated, getting scared.

"You have a heart disease called Atrial Flutter. It's a genetic disease that causes increased heartbeat, high blood pressure, and, if left untreated, could be fatal."

"You can treat it, right?" Janice asked, eyes wide with fright..

"Oh, yes," Foreman reassured her, hooking a new fluid bag to the IV in her wrist. "With these antibiotics You should be okay. You will have to take pills the rest of your life, but you'll be just fine. We'll keep you overnight, just to be sure, but you should be able to go home tomorrow."

Both Rands smiled identical smiles.

"Thank you," Janice's mother said gratefully.


	6. We have to

CHAPTER 5

"Ok, last chance, I need to know if this is medical or if you just feel like being a mime." House leaned back in his chair, extremely irritated. "Look, you and I both know that there is nothing wrong with you, but if you don't talk, we can't prove that to your crazy mother." The silent teenage girl sat in her wheelchair and gave House a scornful look.

House rolled his eyes, "Fine, have it your way." He limped over to a drawer and pulled out a five inch needle. "Now, I'm gonna inject you with this stuff and you should feel –"

"Okay, okay!" Lily shouted. "God, I'm fine!"

"Good," House replied. "Now you mind telling me why you took the vow of silence?" he paused. "You aren't planning to be a monk are you?"

"No!" Lily protested. "It's not that…"

"Okay good, 'cause I think monks are men," House informed her.

She rolled her eyes, "Whatever. It's just…before the accident, nobody looked at me like I was different and mom let me do things by myself. Now, when people look at me, they don't see me, they see a wheelchair. And my mom, well, she won't even let me brush my teeth without her being there. I shut up because I wanted to show her I have a mind of my own."

"Have you ever seen 'X-Files'?" House asked, fiddling with his cane.

Lily looked taken aback, "Why?"

"If you have, you'd know that only a few people can read minds and I doubt you mother is one of them." House replied absent mindedly. "My point? Moms are kinda dumb sometimes, if you want to tell them something, you can't do it the way you are: that's just stupid."

Lily stared, "So what do you want me to do?"

"Yell, dance, sing, grow a beard," he replied. "Anything except for what you are doing now. Besides, all of those are more fun than sitting like a mute potato."

Lily's mouth curved into a half smile, "Thanks."

House nodded, "You know, it's not that important that you have a wheelchair, or even a cane; it's what you do with yourself after."

Lily nodded, "That helps a lot."

House tapped his cane against his forehead, "God, I'm turning into a freakin' shrink."

Lily laughed.

XxX

_Gillian had been sleeping for 48 hours, but Gregory hadn't slept a wink. After a spell of violent vomiting leading to unconsciousness, Gillian had been rushed to the hospital, leaving Gregory alone in a nightmare. _

_The doctors couldn't figure tell what was wrong with her. None of the symptoms fit with one disease: vomiting, fainting, and chest pain. It didn't make any sense. Gregory knew the doctors were doing all they could, but he couldn't help feeling that it wouldn't be enough. He'd never felt so alone in his life._

_Slight movement from Gillian caused Gregory to snap out of his reverie. He leaned over Gillian's bed. "Gilly?" he whispered. "Gillian?"_

"_I'm awake Gregory," Gillian muttered. "And don't call me Gilly."_

_Gregory smiled weakly, "How are you feeling?"_

"_Like hell," Gillian laughed, then coughed. _

"_Greg, I feel like I have ruined everything. What if they can't figure out what is wrong with me?" she cried despairingly._

_Gregory took her hand and said comfortingly, "You haven't ruined anything, not a damn thing. And don't worry, we'll find out what's wrong with you." As Gillian drifted back to sleep, Gregory murmured to himself, "We have to."_


	7. Saying Goodbye

CHAPTER 6

House sat in his chair, eyes following his yo-yo up and down, up and down…For some reason he found the continuity comforting and relaxing so he was especially irritated when it was interrupted by a knock on the door. Dr. Lisa Cuddy walked into the room.

"Hey," she said. "I'm in process of learning a new trick which is a very strenuous activity that involves a high level of concentration. So unless somebody's dying, there's no reason for you to be here."

"Good, we need to talk," Cuddy responded, her dry wit matching House's.

"What?" House protested. "I've already done clinic duty."

"Exactly! You did exactly what you were supposed to – no complaints, no sarcastic remarks…nothing!" Cuddy's face showed genuine concern. "Something's got to be wrong. You _hate _clinic duty. What's up?"

"So you're upset because I did clinic duty?" House's eyes glinted slyly. "Does this mean I shouldn't do clinic duty anymore?"

"No, it just means that something is wrong, now spill," Cuddy's arms crossed in a stubborn air and House could see there was no arguing with her.

He sighed, "Do you want to hear the long version?"

XxX

"_She has a genetic disease called Long QT Syndrome, an essentially new disease and because we're still doing research, there is no known cure," the doctor looked sympathetic. "I'm sorry."  
_

_Gregory stared numbly, unable to believe what the doctor had said. "So-so how long does she have to..." he couldn't finish, but he didn't need to._

"_Hard to say," the doctor said apologetically. "I am sorry."_

_Gregory nodded, tears filling his eyes. This isn't how it was supposed to be; they were supposed to get married, raise a family, grow old and die together .It wasn't supposed to happen like this! Gregory walked slowly, heartbroken into Gillian's room. One look at Gregory's tearstained face told her everything._

"_You'll be okay Greg," Gillian murmured, a peaceful smile appearing on her pale face. "I know you will."_

"_I don't want to lose you," Gregory whimpered. "I love you."_

_Gillian reached up and touched his face, "I'll always be with you, no matter what. You wanna know a secret?" she leaned over and whispered in Gregory's ear. "I'm not afraid to die."_

_Gregory reached down and wrapped his arms around her, drawing her close and began to cry silently in her shoulder._

_A half hour later, Gillian Piper Quinn was gone._

_XxX_

"And we all lived happily ever after," House finished bitterly. "I'd done a pretty good job pretending this didn't happen until this patient decided to come a long with the same symptoms. I'm almost positive – she's got LQTS, but I would rather pretend she doesn't. I've gotten pretty good at playing 'Let's Pretend' "

He looked up to see tears streaming down Cuddy's face. "What happened to the baby?" she asked.

He glanced down at his shoes. "The baby…died with her. Look, if I wanted to make you cry, I would have brought some tissues."

Cuddy let out a shaky laugh, "It just…explains everything – the bitterness, the sarcastic crap you pull all the time, it all makes sense now." She sniffed, brushing away the tears as she cast around for a new subject, "So what are you going to do, about the patient I mean."

House shrugged uncomfortably, "An EKG scan should tell us all we need to know."

Cuddy nodded, "Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me this."

House tried to appear indifferent "Um…ok."

Without thinking, Cuddy reached over and gave him a quick hug. Then, as if realizing what she had done, released him and left, leaving House to his confused thoughts.

The next day House limped over to his younger colleagues.

"Our patient needs and EKG scan," he stated briefly.

As if on cue, all four of their pagers rang: Janice Rand was having a seizure. House allowed a self-satisfied look, "God, I love it when I'm right."


End file.
